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Category Archives for "Networking"

Building a Pet Cam using a Raspberry Pi, Cloudflare Tunnels and Teams

Building a Pet Cam using a Raspberry Pi, Cloudflare Tunnels and Teams
Building a Pet Cam using a Raspberry Pi, Cloudflare Tunnels and Teams

I adopted Ziggy in late 2020. It took me quite a while to get used to his routine and mix it with mine. He consistently jumped on the kitchen counter in search of food, albeit only when no one was around. And I only found out when he tossed the ceramic butter box. It shattered and made a loud bang in the late hours of the night. Thankfully, no one was asleep yet.

This got me thinking that I should keep an eye on his mischievous behaviour, even when I'm not physically at home. I briefly considered buying a pet cam, but I remembered I had bought a Raspberry Pi a few months before. It was hardly being used, and it had a case (like this) allowing a camera module to be added. I hadn’t found a use for the camera module — until now.

This was a perfect weekend project: I would set up my own pet cam, connect it to the Internet, and make it available for me to check from anywhere in the world. I also wanted to ensure that only I could access it and that it had some easy way to login, possibly using Continue reading

Cloudflare thwarts 17.2M rps DDoS attack — the largest ever reported

Cloudflare thwarts 17.2M rps DDoS attack — the largest ever reported

Earlier this summer, Cloudflare’s autonomous edge DDoS protection systems automatically detected and mitigated a 17.2 million request-per-second (rps) DDoS attack, an attack almost three times larger than any previous one that we're aware of. For perspective on how large this attack was: Cloudflare serves over 25 million HTTP requests per second on average. This refers to the average rate of legitimate traffic in 2021 Q2. So peaking at 17.2 million rps, this attack reached 68% of our Q2 average rps rate of legitimate HTTP traffic.

Cloudflare thwarts 17.2M rps DDoS attack — the largest ever reported
Comparison graph of Cloudflare’s average request per second rate versus the DDoS attack

Automated DDoS mitigation with Cloudflare’s autonomous edge

This attack, along with the additional attacks provided in the next sections, were automatically detected and mitigated by our autonomous edge DDoS protection systems. The system is powered by our very own denial of service daemon (dosd). Dosd is a home-grown software-defined daemon. A unique dosd instance runs in every server in each one of our data centers around the world. Each dosd instance independently analyzes traffic samples out-of-path. Analyzing traffic out-of-path allows us to scan asynchronously for DDoS attacks without causing latency and impacting performance. DDoS findings are also shared between the Continue reading

Top SD-WAN vendors and how they got there

Even in the midst of the pandemic, revenues from SD-WAN grew 18.5% from 2019 to 2020, and is expected to grow another 26.5% this year, according to IDC.In the research firm’s forthcoming Worldwide SD-WAN Infrastructure Forecast, IDC projects compound annual growth of 18.9% through 2025, when total revenues will top $7 billion.SD-WAN buyers guide: Key questions to ask vendors “We expected to see a significant drop due to the pandemic, dragging the growth rate down to at least single digits,” said Brandon Butler, Senior Research Analyst, Enterprise Networks at IDC, but the rise of cloud computing and the need to connect enterprises to cloud-based resources including video conferencing applications offset the slowdown caused by a newly remote workforce.  To read this article in full, please click here

Hedge 96: Mark Nottingham and the Future of Standardization

It often seems like the IETF is losing steam—building standards, particularly as large cloud-scale companies a reducing their participation in standards bodies and deploying whatever works for them. Given these changes, what is the future of standards bodies like the IETF? Mark Nottingham joins Tom Ammon and Russ White in a broad-ranging discussion around this topic.

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Nokia Service Router Linux


Nokia Service Router Linux (SR-Linux) is an open source network operating system running on Nokia's merchant silicon based data center switches.

The following commands configure SR-Linux to sample packets at 1-in-10000, poll counters every 20 seconds and stream standard sFlow telemetry to an analyzer (192.168.10.20) using the default sFlow port 6343:

system {
sflow {
admin-state enable
sample-rate 10000
collector 1 {
collector-address 192.168.10.20
network-instance default
source-address 192.168.1.1
port 6343
}
}
}

For each interface:

interface ethernet-1/1 {
admin-state enable
sflow {
admin-state enable
}
}

Enable sFlow on all switches and ports in the data center fabric for comprehensive visibility.

An instance of the sFlow-RT real-time analytics software converts the raw sFlow telemetry into actionable measurements to drive operational dashboards and automation (e.g. DDoS mitigation, traffic engineering, etc.).
docker run --name sflow-rt -p 8008:8008 -p 6343:6343/udp -d sflow/prometheus
A simple way to get started is to run the Docker sflow/prometheus image on the sFlow analyzer host (192.168.10.20 in the example config) to run sFlow-RT with useful applications to explore the telemetry. Access the web interface at http://192.168.10.20:8008.

Zero Trust controls for your SaaS applications

Zero Trust controls for your SaaS applications
Zero Trust controls for your SaaS applications

Most teams start that journey by moving the applications that lived on their private networks into this Zero Trust model. Instead of a private network where any user on the network is assumed to be trusted, the applications that use Cloudflare Access now check every attempt against the rules you create. For your end users, this makes these applications just feel like regular SaaS apps, while your security teams have full control and logs.

However, we kept hearing from teams that wanted to use their Access control plane to apply consistent security controls to their SaaS apps, and consolidate logs from self-hosted and SaaS in one place.

We’re excited to give your team the tools to solve that challenge. With Access in front of your SaaS applications, you can build Zero Trust rules that determine who can reach your SaaS applications in the same place where your rules for self-hosted applications and network access live. To make that easier, we are launching guided integrations with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) management console, Zendesk, and Salesforce. In just a few minutes, your team can apply a Zero Trust layer over every resource you use and ensure your logs Continue reading

The First Three Winners from Cloudflare’s Project Jengo 2 Share $20,000

The First Three Winners from Cloudflare’s Project Jengo 2 Share $20,000
The First Three Winners from Cloudflare’s Project Jengo 2 Share $20,000

This past April we announced the revival of Project Jengo in response to a patent troll called Sable Networks that sued Cloudflare even though our technology and products are nothing like what’s described in Sable’s patents. This is only one part of Sable’s larger campaign against innovative technology companies — Sable sued five other technology companies earlier this year, and had sued seven other technology companies under the same patents last year.

Just as we have done in the past, we decided to fight back rather than feed the troll — which would only make it stronger. You see, unlike Cloudflare and other operating companies that were sued, Sable Networks isn’t in the business of providing products and services to the market. Rather, it exists to extract settlements out of productive companies that are creating value to the society.

Project Jengo is a prior art search contest where we ask the Cloudflare community for help in finding evidence (“prior art”) that shows Sable’s patents are invalid because they claim something that was already known at the time the patent application was filed. We committed $100,000 in cash prizes to be shared by the winners who were successful in finding Continue reading

Capturing Purpose Justification in Cloudflare Access

Capturing Purpose Justification in Cloudflare Access

The digital world often takes its cues from the real world. For example, there’s a standard question every guard or agent asks when you cross a border—whether it’s a building, a neighborhood, or a country: “What’s the purpose of your visit?” It’s a logical question: sure, the guard knows some information—like who you are (thanks to your ID) and when you’ve arrived—but the context of “why” is equally important. It can set expectations around behavior during your visit, as well as what spaces you should or should not have access to.

Capturing Purpose Justification in Cloudflare Access
The purpose justification prompt appears upon login, asking users to specify their use case before hitting submit and proceeding.

Digital access follows suit. Recent data protection regulations, such as the GDPR, have formalized concepts of purpose limitation and data proportionality: people should only access data necessary for a specific stated reason. System owners know people need access to do their job, but especially for particularly sensitive applications, knowing why a login was needed is just as vital as knowing who, when, and how.

Starting today, Cloudflare for Teams administrators can prompt users to enter a justification for accessing an application prior to login. Administrators can add this Continue reading

Day Two Cloud 111: Infrastructure As Software With Kris Nóva

Kris Nóva, Senior Principal Software Engineer at Twilio, claims that managing infrastructure using tools like Terraform isn't that far away from just writing your own code to do the job yourself. Kris joins co-hosts Ned Bellavance and Ethan Banks to challenge the notion that ops folks can't become developers. Kris says they can.

The post Day Two Cloud 111: Infrastructure As Software With Kris Nóva appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Marvell buys Innovium for cloud data-center expertise

Network-acceleration processors are becoming as popular as CPUs, and the latest big buy is Marvell Technology acquiring Innovium, a provider of networking solutions for cloud and edge data centers.Marvell already has an extensive portfolio of Ethernet-switching processors, and it recently acquired Inphi, a developer of dedicated high radix, performance-optimized switch silicon to help move vast amounts of data around data centers. Now comes the Innovium purchase.Innovium’s Teralynx switching architecture is said to deliver ultra-low latency, high performance, power-optimized telemetry--critical in cloud-scale data centers. The Teralynx family of switches range from 1T/s to 25.6T/s of programmable switches with support for 10G to 800G while offering lower latency and the largest on-chip buffers, resulting in the best application performance.To read this article in full, please click here

How To Become A Mentor In Your Career Field

Becoming a mentor doesn’t just help others. It enables you to enhance your professional development too. That is because it is a mutually beneficial partnership that helps both parties involved, i.e., the mentor and mentee. 

If you are looking to become a mentor, you are in the right place. Here are the top tips that will help you in how to become a mentor in your career field. 

1. Find A Mentee 

You can use your organization or professional network to find a mentee. However, many of the best mentoring relationships develop organically without you having to try. If you feel there is a junior in your organization that you offer advice to, you can always become their mentee. 

Mentoring programs inside the organization are an excellent way to engage the staff, retain employees, and pass expertise. So, if you have such a program in your organization, you will find a mentee in no time. 

2. Set Expectations 

Once you have found a mentee in your organization, it is time to set expectations. That is because establishing guidelines help maintain a good working relationship. Your mentee will know what you expect and vice versa. Continue reading

5 things to know about pay-per-use hardware

Pay-per-use hardware models such as HPE GreenLake and Dell Apex are designed to deliver cloud-like pricing structures and flexible capacity to on-premises data centers. And interest is growing as enterprises look for alternatives to buying equipment outright for workloads that aren’t a fit for public-cloud environments.The concept of pay-per-use hardware has been around for more than a decade, but the buzz around it is growing, said Daniel Bowers, a former senior research director at Gartner. “There’s been a resurgence of interest in this for about four years, driven a lot by HPE and its GreenLake program.”To read this article in full, please click here

5 things you nee to know about pay-per-use hardware

Pay-per-use hardware models such as HPE GreenLake and Dell Apex are designed to deliver cloud-like pricing structures and flexible capacity to on-premises data centers. And interest is growing as enterprises look for alternatives to buying equipment outright for workloads that aren’t a fit for public-cloud environments.The concept of pay-per-use hardware has been around for more than a decade, but the buzz around it is growing, said Daniel Bowers, a former senior research director at Gartner. “There’s been a resurgence of interest in this for about four years, driven a lot by HPE and its GreenLake program.”To read this article in full, please click here

5 things you need to know about pay-per-use hardware

Pay-per-use hardware models such as HPE GreenLake and Dell Apex are designed to deliver cloud-like pricing structures and flexible capacity to on-premises data centers. And interest is growing as enterprises look for alternatives to buying equipment outright for workloads that aren’t a fit for public-cloud environments.The concept of pay-per-use hardware has been around for more than a decade, but the buzz around it is growing, said Daniel Bowers, a former senior research director at Gartner. “There’s been a resurgence of interest in this for about four years, driven a lot by HPE and its GreenLake program.”To read this article in full, please click here

5 things to know about pay-per-use hardware

Pay-per-use hardware models such as HPE GreenLake and Dell Apex are designed to deliver cloud-like pricing structures and flexible capacity to on-premises data centers. And interest is growing as enterprises look for alternatives to buying equipment outright for workloads that aren’t a fit for public-cloud environments.The concept of pay-per-use hardware has been around for more than a decade, but the buzz around it is growing, said Daniel Bowers, a former senior research director at Gartner. “There’s been a resurgence of interest in this for about four years, driven a lot by HPE and its GreenLake program.”To read this article in full, please click here